Inexplicably, Gomes is remembered for a couple of high-profile howlers in his six years at Tottenham instead of the agility which made him a cult hero at PSV Eindhoven.

But he has been a ­revelation for the Hornets, adding a penalty save and a stupendous one-handed feat of acrobatics to a reputation reborn as Bournemouth were denied a precious win.

After parrying Glenn Murray’s late spot-kick – the Cherries’ fifth in their last four meetings with Watford – only David Seaman (32 per cent) has saved a higher proportion of penalties faced than Gomes (29 per cent) in the Premier League era.

Proportion of penalties saved in Premier League

32%

David Seaman

29%

Heurelho Gomes

But that wasn’t even his best contribution at the Vitality Stadium. His arching, twisting ­gymnastics to reach Steve Cook’s 20-yard overhead kick was simply fantastic.

Gomes joked afterwards that he pulled off his wonder save because he did not want to feature as the fall guy on a goal-of-the-season highlights reel.

Smart move – now the Brazilian is sure to feature on any save-of-the-season compilation instead.

Gomes said: “That’s why I play in goal – to make the saves for Watford and to help the team when they need me.

“I did not want to be on the highlights programme for goal of the season, that’s why I kept out the overhead kick.

In their first game since losing top-scorer Callum Wilson to a long-term knee injury, Bournemouth were vibrant for 45 minutes and deservedly led through £5million signing Murray’s first goal for the club.

But a calamitous error, 14 seconds before the interval, by Cherries keeper Artur Boruc gifted Odion Ighalo his fifth goal of the season, and Watford were worth their point after the ‘Octopus’ had flexed his tentacles.

Murray admitted: “I’ve got mixed feelings. It’s nice to get off the mark for my new club, and I felt ­confident about taking the penalty – but it was saved, and that’s the nature of football sometimes.”